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Stereotypes are just stereotypes

This is a funny and thoughtful segment from American satirical TV program ‘The Daily Show‘ hosted by Jon Stewart. I came across it via Gaybros some time ago. I meant to note it here earlier but got busy and forgot all about it. Thanks to my blogger friend Cindy Knoke who mentioned stereotypes in a comment here, I’m reminded to do so.

In the U.S., the states of Mississippi and Alabama are projected by adorable and openly gay statistician Nate Silver to be the last two states to approve gay marriage. But Nate Silver did not visit those states to research his theory. So reporter Al Madrigal went there to see if he could be right. As the show narrated, “it was time to see which one of these backwoods, inbred, homophobic states will swim the longest against the tide of history.” And he had a hilarious method of gauging this.

After interviews with representatives of the two states who heartily upheld the view that their states are indeed largely anti-gay, two stuntmen were employed to pose as a gay couple and engage in public displays of affection.

It’s a nice reminder that sometimes we make generalizations about whole groups of people, including by country, race and religion. We know it’s stupid and unfair, but sometimes we still do it because it’s the easy and convenient thing to do. I like how the exercise makes the point that stereotypes are just that, stereotypes, in such a funny and entertaining way.